A revival of empowerment

Thursday

Jan 30, 2014 at 4:41 PM

The 4th annual Alachua County Empowerment Revival ended with a double dose of good preaching from two powerful women of God.

By CLEVELAND TINKERSpecial to the Guardian

The 4th annual Alachua County Empowerment Revival ended with a double dose of good preaching from two powerful women of God.The three-night revival ended last Friday at Mount Moriah Baptist Church with an inspirational message from Pastor Kathy Long-Richardson of Greater Love & Faith Ministries in Gainesville and an encouraging sermon from the Rev. Delores Cain, the revivalist all three nights. Cain is pastor of Heritage Christian Community Baptist Church in Tampa.Organized four years ago to feature women ministers and to save unsaved souls, the revival once again showed love to members of the community who work with children by giving $1,000 donations to both the Boys to Men Club at Lake Forest Elementary School and the Star Center Children's Theatre. In past years, the revival has made donations to the Reichert House Youth Academy after-school program for boys and Peaceful Paths, a domestic abuse network that serves survivors of domestic violence in Alachua, Bradford and Union counties.The Boys to Men Club is led by Leon Marshall, a teacher at Lake Forest. The Star Center is a nonprofit theater that has been providing arts education and performance opportunities to area youth and their families since 2000. Rhonda Wilson is the director of the theater located at The Actors' Warehouse at 608 N. Main St.The service included performances by the Greater Love & Faith and Voices of Empowerment choirs and also by Grand Finale, a praise dance team that did a liturgical dance to "The Precious Lamb of God" by Kirk Franklin. Voices of Empowerment and Grand Finale are comprised of members from the various churches involved in the revival.The Rev. Dr. Marie Herring, pastor of Dayspring Baptist Church; Angela Terrell, a member of Johnson Chapel Baptist Church; and Leanetta McNealy, a member of Hope to the World Church, are the co-founders and organizers of the revival.The service began with the Greater Love & Faith Choir singing several songs before Long Richardson began to speak. Long-Richardson said as she asked God what he wanted her to say, he planted the word "fanatic" in her spirit.She then gave a definition for fanatic before asking how many of the close to 400 parishioners packed into the church were fanatical about the University of Florida and Florida State University football teams. The Gator fans responded with a few shouts of "Go Gators" while doing the Gator chomp and the FSU fans responded by doing the tomahawk chop several times.Long-Richardson then asked the question of the hour."How many of you are fanatic about Jesus Christ?" she asked, as parishioners stood to their feet while letting out a loud shout together. Long-Richardson said reaching out to those who are not saved should be the No. 1 priority of Christians."I need you to take this word to the street," she said. "The reason why we have this Empowerment Revival is for you to go out and spread the word of God."Later in the service, Cain delivered a sermon that was just as urgent as the inspirational words delivered by Long-Richardson. She said God gave the world Jesus Christ because he saw that the greatest need of people was the need for people to be saved from their sins."There is purpose in our pain," Cain said. "Everything is being woven together for our good. However, we still have an enemy that comes to kill, steal and destroy."